What if we all had spaces to remember that we are connected?
A church of interbeing is a regular place-based non-religious gathering to reconnect with ourselves, each other, and all life, in a ritual arc of contemplation and connection that transcends divisions of ideology and belief.
A first experiment of this kind began in Berlin two and a half years ago.
The Interbeing Network exists to help church of interbeing communities and similar projects emerge around the world.
Principles | About the network | The Berlin church | Contact us
The aim of the Interbeing Network is to incubate, inform, and coordinate a worldwide network of local groups who create regular, place-based, “open source” ritual events — gatherings that build connection across differences, cultivate insight and wisdom, and become local commons of the sacred where participants can reconnect with themselves, each other, and the wider wholes of which they are part.
Filling some part of the niche once occupied by church services in the Western world (and by community rituals and celebrations throughout human history), projects in the network directly address the fragmentation, loneliness, and longing for meaning and connection in our postmodern societies, while opening a doorway to deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in life and the universe.
In this work, we aim to create developmental spaces that are both deep and pluralistic: not embedded in any specific worldview or metaphysical ideology, and therefore capable of being spiritual sanctuaries and spaces of insight, growth and connection for humans from many backgrounds, belief systems, and walks of life.
A church of interbeing in Berlin
Begun a little over two years ago, the Berlin Church of Interbeing has become one example of how such an experiment can evolve. The project in Berlin is now an ecosystem of regular events, centered around a “service” held every Sunday, designed and hosted by volunteers from the community, and open to the public. Built out of ritual and practice components that are common to many traditions — meditation, movement, dialogue, singing, and sharing food — each Sunday service is an experiential inquiry into a thematic question, offered by the hosts and explored together by hosts the participants. From a very small start, the project has grown by word-of-mouth, now attracting around 60 people each Sunday, from a wider participant community of about 1,200 Berliners.
The Network
While the Berlin experiment continues to develop, our aim is to begin laying the groundwork for similar experiments to emerge in other places. Rather than a cut-and-paste approach to scaling, we want to develop a set of core principles, standards, and practices that can be instantiated by qualified people in a particular location in relationship to the specific needs, resources, and capacities of their context.
Our intention is to create two layers of network: a core layer that consists of interbeing communities that closely follow guidelines and form refined from the Berlin experiment; and a second layer of initiatives that are similar in principle, but arising from their own sources and approaching through their own means. The network will support both of these layers in developing and learning from each other.
Contact us to learn more or explore starting a church of interbeing in your area.